Restoring historic Albion Park farmhouse key to preserving heritage and reclaiming community use

Historic Swansea Farmhouse at Albion Park could be restored to its former glory and handed back to the community to use to give it a second life.

The home, located near Shellharbour City Stadium on Croome Road, is one of the projects included in the Shellharbour City Council’s newly released Strategic Projects Advocacy Plan 2024-25.

During the September council meeting, Councillor Kellie Marsh welcomed the farm’s inclusion as part of the plan’s neighbourhood projects and hoped funding could be secured to undergo urgent works.

“It’s nice to see something included in this advocacy document for heritage with the Swansea Farmhouse that was originally built in 1920 with the Norris family the original inhabitants,” Cr Marsh said.

“That house boasts a lot in the farm history of Albion Park.

“We’ve had former mayors and former mayoresses reside in that building.

“I hope our state leaders support our request for $1.5 million for restoration work so that the property can be handed back to the community to utilise.”

Originally, it was the Norris family who owned the land.

According to Discover Shellharbour, in the 1920s David Timbs then built Swansea Farmhouse and by 1923 the Youll family purchased the home and continued to live there until 1965 when the farm and land was sold to developers.

Well-known farmers in the area, the Youll family was a major contributor to the Albion Park Agricultural, Horticultural and Industrial Society.

Richard Youll served on the committee with his sons, John and Donald, who were also prominent in Junior Farmers Club activities.

After Donald’s death at age 27 in 1955, the Junior Farmers Pavilion at the Albion Park Showground was named in his honour.

Richard contributed much to the dairy industry in Shellharbour, including roles on various organisations and serving as a Shellharbour warden.

On the opposite side of Croome Road are the silos, which mark the site of the dairy that was once part of the Swansea farm.

They serve as an example of a government-sponsored silo building promotion in the 1920-30s, where a standard set of forms were provided to small farmers to assist them to build silos cheaply.

Shellharbour City Council later purchased the land for a sporting oval and the farmhouse was used by caretakers of the Croome Road Sporting Complex.

However, while the house still remains on the former farming lands, it is no longer used.

Within the advocacy document, it outlines the farmhouse and its associated storage sheds and former barn as having heritage significance, but needing urgent conservation works, including heritage works, to halt further deterioration and retain the historic building.

It suggests conservation of Swansea Farmhouse would allow the “celebration of its rich history and give it a second life”, with it possibly to be used for its original purpose as a private residence or for appropriate and adaptive use such as cafe, office use or community group use.

Works would include removing some of the later additions, bringing the building back to its former footprint, and structural works to meet current standards and building practices.

Other works would include repairing existing external and internal fabrics and fitouts of the building, and ensuring any materials used were sympathetic to the heritage significance of the building.